Mokuton
by Yukihana Hisako
Summary: UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Chapter 1

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

**Kyuubi talking**

The Genin Exams

Mokuton

When the test for the genin exams was announced, Naruto just barely restrained himself from bashing his head into the table 'Why the hell did it have to be bunshin…kawarimi, henge, I can do any other academy jutsu…I can do a wood clone even…but no, it just has to be a bunshin…Arrgh!!' Naruto thought in frustration. He could easily pass the written exams and the accuracy test, but bunshin were basically impossible for him to produce. Naruto had way too much chakra to successfully form a normal bunshin. A wood clone, yes, but a bunshin, no.

And so, just as he had predicted, Naruto aced the written exam and the kunai and shuriken accuracy test, but failed miserably at the ninjutsu test. The blonde took up the stride of a depressed academy student, which, in all honesty, wasn't that hard to do. He sat dejectedly on the swing, when, in actuality, he was healing the tree he was sitting next to. It was sick, and Naruto was getting rid of the sickness. It was for this reason that Naruto hadn't noticed Mizuki until the Academy instructor started talking to him.

The jinchuuriki was only half paying attention or he would have noticed that his sensei was obviously up to something. But the blonde wasn't, and he didn't notice.

Getting the Forbidden Scroll was laughably easy. When this was all over with, Naruto was going to have to talk to the Hokage about upping security around here.

In his 'lessons' with the trees, he had taught himself to merge with wood, being able to basically transport to wherever the wood touched. So that was what the mokuton user did. Naruto merged with the wood of the Hokage tower, slipped into the library, and exited to the forest and the training area Mizuki had told him about. Once there, Naruto opened the scroll to the technique called 'Kage Bunshin' and started to learn it.

About three hours later, Iruka entered the clearing. "Naruto! I found you!"

"Hello Iruka-sensei." Naruto responded calmly.

"Why did you take the scroll? You know you could get into big trouble if someone finds you with that."

"Mizuki-sensei said there was a jutsu in here that I could use to pass the exams. He said that if I could master it, he would pass me."

'Mizuki?' Iruka thought. 'Oh crap…'

There was the distinctive sound of a huge shuriken as one of the afore mentioned shuriken came whistling at Naruto. "Naruto! Duck!" Iruka shouted. The blonde followed his instructions and looked towards the area where the shuriken had come from. The silver-haired academy instructor leaped down into the clearing in front of the other two shinobi.

"Whatever happens, don't let Mizuki get the scroll." Iruka ordered Naruto just nodded in reply, watching Mizuki warily.

"I was planning on killing the demon and taking the scroll for myself, but since you're going to get into the way, I'll just kill you too!" Mizuki said, looking like a maniac.

With that, he launched quite a few shuriken at the scarred chuunin. Iruka dodged and deflected a few of them but in the end he got stuck to the wall of the building behind the three shinobi. During this, Naruto was having a very hard time controlling the wood around him. Finally, the blonde let it loose to do what the jinchuuriki dictated. Naruto flicked a hand in Mizuki's general direction and scores of roots burst from the ground to wrap around his former sensei.

The two Academy instructors stared in shock at Naruto. Mokuton was the Shodaime's jutsu, and his alone. It seemed almost impossible that Naruto could use it. 'He really is Konoha's #1 most unpredictable ninja...' Iruka mused. The scarred chuunin was snapped out of his musings by a statement Mizuki made.

"Have you ever wondered why the villagers hate you so much? Why they always glared at you and ignored you?"

Iruka started to panic. "Mizuki, stop!"

"Hahaha! Well, I'll tell you! The Yondaime didn't really defeat the Kyuubi, he sealed it into a new born baby, that's right, and the baby was you! You are the fox!" When Mizuki finished, he started laughing manically.

Iruka slowly turned to face Naruto, afraid of what he would see on his face. To the chuunin's surprise, he saw nothing but an expression on boredom and utter distaste.

"Riiiiight. Last time I looked in the mirror, I wasn't a 200 foot tall mass of raging chakra. It makes one question your sanity."Naruto said coolly.

Mizuki looked like he was about to say something again, before the blonde interrupted him. "I don't want to hear it. You're annoying enough when you're quiet." Naruto pulled his hands up into a cross-shaped hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The jinchuuriki smirked as a few hundred clones of him appeared. "Time to test my new jutsu." Naruto said. He smirked and withdrew the roots that had been holding Mizuki in place. As he did this, the silver-haired academy instructor was beset by Naruto's Kage Bunshins.

Mizuki was lying at Naruto's feet, beaten to a pulp and unconscious. Naruto himself, however, was pouting. "I guess this means that I don't pass…dang." Iruka smiled kindly at the blond mokuton user. "Naruto, come here and close your eyes." The jinchuuriki obeyed, and felt his goggles being removed and replaced with something lighter. The blonde had a feeling he knew what it was, and discovered he was right when he opened his eyes and ran a hand over the carved leaf design on the metal hitai-ate.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

The scarred chuunin smiled. "I think we need to tell the Hokage about this all, ne?"

Sarutobi puffed his pipe, trying to sort through all the information he had been presented with. Naruto apparently had Mokuton, which meant he was related to the first, who's only living direct relative was Tsunade-hime...The Sandaime paled as he realized the full ramifications of the night's events. Jiraiya was going to _kill_ him…

_Growing up_

_Watching the cycle go round and round_

_Watching the moon rise and the sun set_

_Growing older day by day_

_Hour by hour_

_Second by second_

_Treasure each moment like your last _

_Because it just might be_


	2. Chapter 2

Team 7

Mokuton

Naruto barely resisted bashing his head into the desk when his team was called out. 'Why, oh why, do I have to be on the same team as the brooder and the banshee? Why?! What celestial deity did I piss off in a past life?!' he grumbled to himself. Naruto just covered his head with his hands and ignored the rest of the class. When all of the other teams got picked up, he promptly fell asleep, deciding that his sensei was the type that enjoyed being late.

The jinchuuriki was rudely awakened from his nap by an irate pink-haired banshee. "NARUTO, YOU BAKA! WAKE UP!!" she hollered, her voice sounding like a screech. Naruto blinked his eyes groggily, to see a comically furious Sakura glaring at him, and the Uchiha avenger wincing at the sound of the kunoichi's voice. "YOU'VE BEEN ASLEEP FOR TWO HOURS! OUR SENSEI COULD BE HERE ANY MINUTE! WE AREN'T IN THE ACADEMY ANYMORE, THIS IS THE REAL WORLD!!"

Naruto took a second glance at that. The Uchiha fangirl was lecturing _him_ about the real world? It was laughable, really. Before he had a chance to retort, their jounin sensei finally walked in, blinking owlishly. The silver-haired man surveyed the genin and said "My first impression…I don't like you…at all. Meet me on the roof." Naruto sighed, and Sasuke looked annoyed, while Sakura looked downright miffed.

Once all of the genin had gotten onto the roof, Kakashi started speaking. "Alright everyone, let's start by introducing yourselves. Your name, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. You go first, Pinky."

Sakura looked blankly at the jounin. "Why don't you go first, sensei?"

Kakashi shrugged. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your business. My hobbies…hmmm….Dreams for the future…don't really have any…"

"…"

Sakura started talking again. "My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are… (Insert glance at Sasuke) I hate Ino-pig!! Hobbies… (Insert glance at Sasuke and blush) Dreams for the future… (Insert squealing like a pig and blushing)

Kakashi and Naruto sweatdropped simultaneously, and even Sasuke looked a bit wary. The silver haired jounin quickly shrugged it off and began speaking again. "Alright, the one who's staring at me like I'm steak is next."

"Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike a lot of things and I like whatever I don't dislike. My hobby is training. I do have a dream…but I call it an ambition….to resurrect my clan…and to kill a certain man…"

Sakura stared at Sasuke like he was the coolest thing in the world, but Naruto was reflecting deeply. 'He has yet to learn the value of life…Even if it is a homicidal murderer like Itachi.'

Naruto knew about the Uchiha Massacre. If he had learned anything from observing the cycles of life in the forest, it was that one should watch, wait, and listen. Information was power. To be a proper shinobi, one must wait for the proper opportunity to strike a crippling blow against the enemy. The blonde had a habit on listening to things he shouldn't hear, and he knew quite a lot of things. That was how he had found out about the Kyuubi in the first place. Two drunken Anbu had been discussing it after a few cups of sake had loosened their tongues. After the encounter, Naruto had entered his mindscape and managed to talk to the Kyuubi. The nine-tailed Kitsune had become much more agreeable after Naruto used his Mokuton to restrain the fox. They had come to a sort of respect between the two beings, and they could sometimes work together…the emphasis being on _sometimes_.

"Alright…Blondie, you're next."

The jinchuuriki obliged. "My name is Naruto. I-" the blonde was cut off by Sakura. "No clan name? Huh?"

Naruto's eyes darkened. "I'm an orphan Sakura. I was born on the day the Kyuubi attacked. My birth certificate was never found, and both of my parents are assumed dead. No relations, nothing."

This shut the kunoichi up, thankfully. "Anyways. I like ramen and plants. I dislike the three minutes it takes ramen to cook and people who judge other before they meet them. Hobbies…I guess that would be gardening and walking in the forest…As for dreams, I suppose I want to become a strong shinobi to protect my precious people, maybe become Hokage or something like that…"

Kakashi blinked. 'This team might have hope yet.' "Anyways, tomorrow is time for your first duty as shinobi. It's going to be a survival test."

"But we did plenty of survival training in the Academy." Sakura complained.

"But this will be different. You'll be surviving against me. You see, the first genin exam was just to tell who had the potential to become genin. This test will determine whether or not you become true genin. It is a super hard exam that has a failure percentage of 66%! Good luck!" the jounin sad, before poofing away, leaving behind three very confused genin.

Sakura had easily taken up the title of 'Genin with the Most Annoying Voice'. She proceeded to berate their instructor. Naruto zoned out while the jounin sensei gave the instructions, already having a vague idea of the test anyways. Only when their silver-haired sensei called "Start!" did he move.

The Mokuton user merged with a tree to give him enough time to think. Naruto knew there was some sort of trick to the test. 'One genin going up against a tokubetsu jounin is suicide. The only way to get a bell would be to use the distraction of another genin, at the expense of said genin…Damn, that's messed up. I might as well use the distraction one of them will eventually cause to get the bells for myself…I don't know if I can bring myself to fail anybody…Ah well…'

With his plan formulated, Naruto fell into sync with the land around him, which allowed the jinchuuriki to sense all life forms. At this point he narrowed his search by ignoring the low-level chakras and searched for a much higher-level one. Eventually the blond found it, and discovered that Sakura was unconscious and Sasuke was fighting a completely one-sided battle against Kakashi. Naruto smirked and made his way towards the battle.

The mokuton user absorbed natural chakra from the landscape, almost doubling his normal reserves. Naruto quickly masked the surge, an art he had long since mastered. When the blonde sensed Kakashi dive underground, he leaped out of the trees and literally threw Sasuke away from the resurfacing jounin. Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow. 'That must have taken a lot of strength…'

Sasuke glared at Naruto for all he was worth. "What the hell was that for?!" the avenger shouted angrily.

"Is that how you treat someone who just saved your ungrateful ass?" Naruto asked calmly. "Look, are you going to help or not? The only way we'll ever get those bells is if we work together. Sakura is down for the count, so we can't expect any help from her."

"Che." Was Sasuke's response as he leapt forward to attack Kakashi. Naruto sighed, but followed suit.

Sasuke made a quick roundhouse kick to the jounin's head, while Naruto charged a palm strike with natural chakra and managed to give Kakashi a glancing blow in the arm.

Naruto's Shinrinken (Forest Fist) alternated between using normal attacks and adding natural chakra to the attacks. The natural chakra was forced into the opponent's body and deteriorated muscle fibers and tissue, even bones if there was enough chakra. And unfortunately for the jounin, that's exactly what happened to his arm.

With a taijutsu style like the Shinrinken, Naruto had a complex understanding of the human anatomy, and knew exactly what muscles and tendons to get rid of to prevent Kakashi from using his arm. First, the tendons in the jounin sensei's wrist were snapped, to prevent him from using his fingers. Then, Naruto forced chakra up the arm and deteriorated the muscle structure so that it was extremely weak.

Kakashi stared blankly at his student. "That…That's the Shodaime's…"

Naruto shrugged. "Really? I never knew."

With one arm out of commission, it was easier for the two genin to get the bells. Sasuke used a few Katon jutsu, but Naruto didn't use mokuton. He wanted to save it as a surprise for later. Eventually Naruto got close enough to snatch the bells from Kakashi's belt. The silver haired sensei's eye crinkled up in a smile. It was at that moment that the kunoichi of the team decided to get up and join them.

Sakura walked over, and saw Naruto and Sasuke with a bell each. Her shoulders slumped, seeing that she had failed the exams. "Well, I guess I fail…"she said, disheartened. Naruto was right. He just couldn't stand to see anyone look so depressed. 'Ah well. There's always next year…' he thought. The jinchuuriki sighed again and tossed his bell to Sakura. "There you go Sakura." He said softly. "You pass. Kakashi-sensei, I'll heal your arm before I go home."

Naruto focused natural chakra into his hand, and modified it to heal. He stepped up to Kakashi and healed the jounins arm by pushing in the green chakra that signified nature's energy. When he was done, the glow faded, and the blonde started to walk away. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Sakura, Sasuke. I wish you well. Ja ne."

The other three shinobi just stared blankly after him.

Naruto was slurping up a cup of instant ramen when he heard a knock at his door. 'who could that be?' he wondered to himself. Just to be on the safe side, he pulled out a kunai and hid it up the sleeve of his jacket. The blonde opened the door to see a silver-haired jounin, a pink-haired kunoichi, and a raven-haired genin standing outside. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke. What do you need?" he asked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Can we come in?" The jinchuuriki shrugged and stepped aside, allowing entrance to his apartment.

"So, what do you need?"

"Ahh, well actually I came here to explain the true meaning of the test." Kakashi said.

"Teamwork? Yeah, I know. You basically have to pick the person you want to be stuck with for god knows how long…Anyways, I can't stand seeing people who I consider comrades get hurt. Pain of the heart can hurt so much more than physical pain after all…" Naruto laughed bitterly. "Trust me, I should know."

Kakashi looks at the blond sadly. "You're not getting the whole point. If the team was able to work together, everybody would pass."

"Nani?!"

"Since you and Sasuke worked together, and you gave up your bell to Sakura, you proved that you have the power to be a qualified genin, and are rather self-sacrificing. I actually didn't think this team would have passed, and they wouldn't have if it wasn't for you. So congratulations!" The jounin said, smiling beneath his mask.

Naruto blinked. "Okay…" Sakura turned to face her shorter teammate. "Naruto, I want to thank you for giving me the bell. I…I don't know if I could have done if I was in your place." The blonde gave a small smile and noticed that Sasuke was looking at him and not glaring, which wasn't something that happened often. "Something up Sasuke?" he asked. "Tch.

Kakashi smiled. He could tell his team was going to get along just fine.

*Fuuko-chan*

The next chapter will take a little longer to come out probably, but I'll be as fast as I can. As for clothing, everyone except for Naruto is wearing the same thing. Naruto wears black cargo pants with the typical ninja gear as well as a dark brown pack on his left hip. He wears a black t-shirt underneath a forest green sweatshirt. (Forest colors…duh.)

Ja Ne!


	3. Chapter 3

Mission to the Wave

Mokuton

Naruto sighed. Catching a cat and pulling weeds wasn't exactly his idea of training. He was patient, but still. At least the jinchuuriki could make up for it by training like crazy after their missions were over with. Sasuke and Sakura didn't have his patience and were unlikely to be able to do D-ranked missions for much longer. Naruto was right. It was a few minutes later when Sakura snapped.

The Sandaime was listing off the list of missions that were available when Sakura interrupted. "NO!! ABSOULOUTLY NOT!! GIVE US A REAL MISSION!!!"

Naruto had expected Sakura to get mad, but yell at the Hokage? `Where did that come from?' he wondered.

Sarutobi sighed. "Fine. I'll give you a C-ranked mission. You will be escorting a bridge-builder to the Land of the Waves. Please come in, Tazuna-san." When the Hokage finished speaking, an old man came entered the room.

The jinchuuriki wrinkled his nose in disgust. He probably could have smelled the sake coming off of the man from a mile away. Tazuna looked around. "All I have to protect me are some brats? Is this really safe?" Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, Sakura looked disappointed, and Naruto didn't give any visible reaction. The blonde just flashed behind the bridge builder very quickly and said "Kakashi-sensei, can I go and pack? I assume you'll want us to meet at the West Gate." before leaving the office. Tazuna jumped and said "Now I like the blonde, why couldn't the other two be more like him?" completely forgetting the fact that he had just bad-mouthed Naruto as well.

"Sakura, Sasuke, why don't you get ready as well. I have to talk to Kakashi about your mission. Iruka, I need you to leave as well." Sarutobi suggested/ordered. Sasuke shrugged and Sakura nodded before they left as well, Tazuna with them. Iruka gave the Hokage a glance before leaving as well.

The Sandaime sighed and gave a puff to his pipe. "Kakashi, I lied about the mission rank." The silver haired jounin raised his visible eyebrow, asking the Hokage to continue. "This is actually an A-rank mission. Tazuna is wanted dead by the powerful shipping figure, Gatou. These are the files we have on the shinobi after him." The jounin nodded, and picked up the files titled _Momochi Zabuza_ and _the Demon Brothers._

"Any particular reason why you're sending a genin team fresh out of the academy on an A-rank mission?"

"They're far from normal, as you know. Sasuke needs to awaken his sharingan, and Naruto…Well, it's one of those things where you have to see it to believe it. You'll see on the mission."

Kakashi wondered what his superior was talking about. The jounin shrugged and left to meet his team.

As Naruto passed a puddle of water on the trail, he looked for other signs on moisture. There were no clouds, and it hadn't rained for days in the area. The ground was dry and so was the grass. In other words, an ambush. The blonde looked back at his sensei and raised an eyebrow in question. Kakashi gave him a lazy eye-smile that told the jinchuuriki that he was going to end up doing all of the work. Naruto rolled his eyes and kept walking.

Just as he turned around, the infamous Demon Brothers appeared from the puddle of water. The pair wrapped their chain weapon around Kakashi and tugged. Their sensei was ripped apart, blood was everywhere. Sasuke and Sakura were completely out of it, and Naruto flinched before returning his attention to the enemy.

"One down." the brothers called in unison.

The Demon Brothers leaped behind Naruto only to find their chain passed through nothing but air. The jinchuuriki had leapt high above the two shinobi, and landed behind the first of the mist ninjas. The blonde gave him a quick strike to the neck, and the man fell, never to rise again.

The second shinobi, significantly angered by the death of his brother, leapt at Naruto in a rage. The blonde sidestepped, and the claw that the shinobi was using as a weapon continued on its path to completely crush the neck of the mist nin. Blood spattered everywhere.

Sasuke and Sakura were just staring at their teammate, who had killed two chuunin-ranked shinobi without flinching. Naruto shook his head and looked down at his clothing. "Bah. Now I have to wash this. Icky stuff, blood is." Sasuke's mouth twitched at the attempted ice-breaker. After he sensed that his teammates had relaxed, the blonde looked toward a certain tree and called "Oi, sensei, are you going to come out now?"

Their pervert of a sensei leaped down from the trees to look sheepishly at his charges. Naruto's eyebrow twitched at his expression. "Anyways…Would you mind telling us who lied about the mission rank? The involvement of shinobi makes this at least a B-rank…was it the old man, you, or the bridge builder?"

Kakashi took a minute to figure out who `the old man' was. The jounin sensei only figured it out because of the fact that he had read somewhere that Naruto had an extreme disregard for all signs of respect. "It was the _Hokage_ and I who lied."

"So why'd you stick a trio of genin on a B-rank mission? And, if I'm not mistaken, an A-rank as well?"

"I think your actions just answered that. If you can dispose of a pair of chuunin so easily, it would be interesting to see what you could do against somebody more powerful…"

"That's no excuse. What about Sasuke and Sakura?" Naruto pondered his own question before he came up with the answer. "Oh…Konoha needs Sasuke to awaken his sharingan, and an A-rank mission is likely to have deaths in it…so you want to wisen up Sakura to the real world? I guess I get it now…"

Kakashi's eyes crinkled up in a lazy smile. "Yep!"

It was later the next day when Naruto sensed a new set of attackers. He ran to catch up with Kakashi so he could notify the jounin of his finds.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei?"

"What is it Naruto?"

"There are two people following us. One is your level, and the other has about average chuunin chakra. The part that worries me is that the one with the lower chakra has a Hyouton kekkai genkai… They're probably here to get Tazuna-san."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the new information. After training with Naruto for five months, he had to admit that his ability in sensing and hiding chakra was far above his own. To be able to tell what element the chakra had an affinity for was unheard of, but it was useful all the same. "What is the more powerful one's affinity?"

"Suiton."

"Damn…"

Team 7 was near a lake, so it was a bad match-up for a user of water techniques and the jounin of the group. Naruto could easily nullify all water jutsu, but he decided to wait until Kakashi needed help. Naruto's eyes widened slightly and he yelled "EVERYONE! DUCK!!"

Naruto and Kakashi dropped immediately to the ground, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna just a few seconds from getting their heads decapitated by a huge spinning sword that flew over them, lodging into a tree. When the leaf nins looked up, they saw the missing-nin Momochi Zabuza standing on his sword.

"Everybody stay back, this guy is way out of your league." The Copy Ninja ordered. The genin followed their orders and stepped back.

"Momochi Zabuza…The Demon of the Mist"

"Hatake Kakashi…The Copy Ninja of Konoha"

Naruto twitched. `Are they just going to exchange their names or are they actually going to fight?' he wondered.

"This is going to be a little difficult…" the silver haired jounin said as he lifted up his crooked headband, revealing his sharingan. "Unless I use this!"

"Kakashi of the Sharingan…I guess you finally decided to use it, ne sensei?" Naruto said.

Sakura had no clue what was going on, and Sasuke was still in shock that someone from outside of the Uchiha had a sharingan. Naruto rolled his eyes at his naivety. `Isn't it obvious that you can transplant doujutsus…seriously, isn't it obvious? Oh well…'

Zabuza made the first move. "Ninpou: Kirigakure special jutsu." The sword wielder called out as he disappeared into the mist that was appearing.

The mokuton user sighed. If their sensei was any good, this mist shouldn't be a problem, and he knew that Kakashi was actually pretty famous. So, in other words, they wouldn't be in trouble unless Zabuza somehow slipped through his sensei's guard. Naruto decided to leave the mist where it was and watch the battle play out. `I shouldn't interfere…It could be the last thing I do.'

A disembodied voice floated to the ears of the genin who were in a protective circle around the bridge builder. "8 points…Lungs, heart, clavicle vein, jugular, kidneys, spine, brain, neck vein…So many options…" the voice said as Zabuza released a large amount of killing intent.

Sakura and Sasuke were sweating buckets at the killing intent, and Naruto was having a little bit of a problem holding it off.

`What an incredibly dangerous ki. It feels like if I make a move I'll be killed. This could drive a person crazy…The intensity of a jounin…It almost feels like my life is being squeezed…I can't take it…I'd almost rather die now and get it over with…' Sasuke thought, shuddering.

The jinchuuriki of the group noticed Sasuke's train of thought a recognized the waves of fear flowing off of him like a waterfall. `I have to remember…These two haven't had as experience with this sort of thing…' he thought. `Might as well block the ki for them…' At that, Naruto released a killing intent mixed with chakra to block the intent of the mist nin. "Guys, calm down. We aren't going to be the ones fighting." the blonde said. Sasuke took a breath and managed to calm himself down. "Right." The raven-haired genin responded.

"Don't worry." Their jounin-sensei said. "I don't let my comrades die."

"We'll see about that!"

Zabuza appeared inside of the circle of genin. "It's over." The mist nin said cruelly, as he started to swing his sword where it would slice the three genin and Tazuna in half. Kakashi's eyes widened as he rushed to stop the sword's deadly path.

There were a few moments when there was a flurry of movement that Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna couldn't trace. When the fighters stopped moving, Zabuza's Decapitator was stopped by two kunai that Naruto was holding. The Demon himself looked surprised and amused at the same time. "My my, looks like one of the brats might actually be fun to toy with…"

"Your opponent is me!" the Copy Ninja called out as he drove a kunai through the Demon's stomach, pushing him away from the genin team.

Instead of blood dripping out of the wound, it was water. A few seconds later, `Zabuza' turned out to be a muzui bunshin. `Alright, so that one is a bunshin as well…The real Kakashi-sensei is behind Zabuza…Who is also a water clone…geez…' Naruto thought, analyzing the situation.

Sure enough, the blonde was right. When the Demon of the Mist swung his sword through their jounin sensei, the leaf shinobi dispersed into water droplets a second later. While this was happening, the real Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza and said "Stop! Don't move! It's over!!"

Sasuke stared on in amazement and Sakura giggled. `Kakashi-sensei really is awesome…' she thought.

Then the Demon himself started chuckling. "It's over? You don't get it…You'll never beat me with these monkey-like imitations!"

"……."

"Hehe…But that was impressive of you. At that time…you had already copied the Water Clone Technique…You had your clone say those words…To attract my attention while you hid in the mist and watched me. Nice plan. But…I'm also not that easy…" Zabuza said as the real one finally appeared, behind Kakashi. Looking at his sensei's expression, Naruto almost groaned. `I thought he knew that one was a fake too…"

After that, the jounin had a taijutsu battle, (Read the manga if you want the full version…) the result being that Kakashi landed in the water. Naruto's eyes widened in shock. `Kakashi-sensei got knocked down?' Sakura thought, trying to make sense of what she had just seen. `He's also strong in taijutsu…' Sasuke observed.

`What?' Kakashi thought confused. `This water is heavy…

"Heh. Fool!" Zabuza said as he flashed through a series of seals. `Water Prison no Jutsu!' The water around the Konoha jounin swirled into an orb that acted as a prison for the silver-haired shinobi. `Damn…' was the only word running through the said jounin's brain. Zabuza chuckled again. "Now I have you in my inescapable special prison. It makes things tougher if you can't move, you know? Now…Kakashi, we can finish things later. First I'll take care of them." The Demon said as he created a water clone. The clone appeared out of the water and stepped onto land.

"Hehe. Wearing hitai-ate and acting like real ninjas…But you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Basically…Once you are good enough to be listed in my handbook…Then you can start calling yourself a ninja…You guys should not be referred to as ninjas…"

Naruto sensed Zabuza's kick, and was able to easily dodge it. Kakashi used this to try and get his charges to run.

"Guys! Take Tazuna and run! The water clone can't go very far from the original! This battle was over the moment I got caught!"

"Kakashi-sensei, we can't. If we leave, Zabuza will just finish you off and will then come after us. If we follow that course of option, our only future is death. The only way to complete the mission is to get you out of there so we can leave." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Heh. You guys will never grow up. Going to keep playing ninja, eh? When I was about your age, these hands were already dyed red with blood." Zabuza said, an insane glint in his eyes.

"Devil…Zabuza…" Naruto said.

"Ah…So you've heard a little bit about it."

Naruto filled in his fellow genin on the story. "Long ago, in the Hidden Mist village, there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja…"

"Hm…You even know about the graduation exam…You are very knowledgeable for a genin…"

"What's this exam graduation thingie?" Sakura asked.

Zabuza chuckled. "Fights to the death between students."

"Huh?!"

"Friends who have trained together and eaten at the same table were pitted against each other…Until one loses their life."

"….Terrible…" Sakura murmured.

Naruto took a deep breath before finishing the story. "10 years ago, the graduation exam…was forced to change. This change came after the previous year…When a devil appeared."

Sakura was confused. "…change...? What change? What did this devil do?"

"Without pause or hesitation…A boy who had not even qualified as a ninja…butchered over 100 of the students."

"That…sure was fun…" Zabuza said, looking completely out of it.

"Bandage-head weirdo…"Naruto muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, Zabuza rushed at Sasuke, tossing him around like a rag doll. The Devil stomped on Sasuke, making the raven-haired shinobi cough up blood. "Sasuke-kun!!!" Sakura called, out worried for the Uchiha. Kakashi was very, very worried for his students. They didn't stand a chance if something didn't happen soon.

"Die." Zabuza said.

`Damn it!' Naruto thought as he flashed through a series of seals. `Mokuton: Forest Genesis!'

Huge amounts of wood began to sprout out of the ground, intertwining and forming a large thicket of dense trees. One of the growing plants pierced Zabuza's water clone, shattering it.

All of the Shinobi present were surprised by the wood style jutsu. Kakashi felt his eyes bug out of their sockets. How could one of his students have a bloodline ability that he didn't know about?! It defied all logic. Sakura was in the same state of shock as her sensei, and Sasuke felt his respect for the blonde go up a couple of notches.

Naruto ran over to Sasuke, hand glowing teal with healing chakra. The blonde placed his hand on the Uchiha's chest, healing the broken ribs. "There. That should hold you until I have a chance to fix it properly." Naruto said. "We need to find a way to get Kakashi-sensei out of that prison. I bet if we can make Zabuza let go, the jutsu will dissipate."

"Alright, here's the plan…"

Sasuke leaped above the trees to get a good view of the battlefield. Zabuza was still on the lake, holding the Water Prison, and hadn't made a move yet. The raven-haired Uchiha snapped open a Fuuma Shuriken, and said "Fuuma Shuriken: Shadow Windmill!" before he threw it at the Demon of the Mist.

Zabuza smirked as he caught the shuriken. But, then he saw the second shuriken hiding in the shadow of the first. The mist jounin's eyes widened slightly, but he managed to dodge it at the last minute by jumping. Sasuke, who was on the shore, smirked. "Heh."

The second shuriken puffed out of the henge to reveal Naruto, who landed on the water as easily as the jounin did. The blonde gave a cocky smile and flung a kunai at Zabuza, who dodged, freeing the silver-haired leaf shinobi.

"How? Can you see the future?"

"Yeah. You're going to die."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, two senbon skewered Zabuza's neck. Naruto looked in the direction they had come from and saw a boy about his age wearing an Oinin mask. "Hehe. You're right. He's dead." the child said. Kakashi looked at the newcomer and checked Zabuza's pulse. `……..He really is dead……'

"Thank you very much. I have been looking for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"That mask…You're a Hidden Mist Hunter-nin…" Kakashi observed.

"Impressive……You are correct."

"Hunter-nin?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. My duty is to hunt down and dispose of nukenin."

`He's defiantly not a normal kid…' Kakashi observed.

The hunter-nin shunshined down to the body of the fallen swordsman. Naruto narrowed his eyes, something was defiantly off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shrugged and turned away as the boy left. The shinobi and their charge started to leave for Tazuna's house when the jounin of the group fell over. Naruto turned around quickly as his eyes widened. "Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver-haired leaf shinobi's eyes flickered closed, and Naruto checked his sensei's vitals. Seeing that he was alive, the blonde sighed in relief. Then, the more medical side of the jinchuuriki kicked in as he went over the possible complications of the jounin's condition of severe chakra exhaustion. None of them were pleasant. `Kami, please not again…' Naruto prayed. `Please…'

*Fuuko-chan*

Wow. That was…long…


	4. Chapter 4

Mission to the Wave II

Mokuton

Kakashi's eyes slowly flickered open to see the light brown of a wooden ceiling. The jounin looked to his right and saw Naruto sitting down next to him.

The blonde turned when he felt his sensei's chakra flickering. "You're awake." He stated.

"How long was I out?"

"About two days."

"Where are Sasuke and Sakura?"

"They're sleeping in the other room."

At this, Kakashi took a closer look at his student. Now that he had bothered to notice, he could tell that Naruto had bags under his eyes and the tensed muscles of someone who was worried and wary.

"Have you slept?"

The blonde snorted. "I never sleep for more than three hours a day. It doesn't really matter."

"I'm sorry for worrying you" Kakashi said.

Naruto gave a wry smile. "I'm a med-nin. It's my job to worry.

"A med-nin? I thought you just had basic training."

"Nope. I've been fully licensed and qualified since I was nine."

"Mokuton and now this? How many secrets do you have?"

Naruto laughed bitterly. "More then you can imagine sensei. More than you could ever imagine."

The blonde stood up. "Get some sleep. I'll bring Sakura and Sasuke here in the morning."

With that, the jinchuuriki closed the door.

When Kakashi next opened his eyes, he saw his three students sitting around him in random places. As he sat up, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. When his eyes flicked to Naruto, he saw the usually quiet blonde smirking like he knew something the jounin didn't.

The Copy-Nin turned toward his green-wearing student. "Naruto…spill it." He growled.

"Spill what?" Naruto asked, the perfect picture of innocence.

A large red vein began to pulse on the visible part of Kakashi's face. "Naruto…" he muttered threateningly.

The blonde sighed. "Mokuton or the Hunter-nin?"

"Mokuton first."

The medic-nin sighed again before responding. "I discovered it first when I was 5. I made a seed grow into a plant within a few seconds. After that I started experimenting with it, and when I had gotten as far as I could with that I stole the Shodaime's Mokuton scrolls along with the Shrinken. Since it appeared randomly in The First, all it is a random genetic mutation."

Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair. "Alright, fine. What were you saying about the Oinin (1)?"

Naruto chewed his lower lip. "Body disposal teams are supposed to dispose of their prey on the spot. Not to mention, that was the hyouton user. After the bloodline hunts in Kiri, I highly doubt there would be a hidden ice-user in the Hunter Corps. Also, the weapons he used, senbon, are more likely to put somebody into a near-death state then kill them."

"That's true…" Kakashi said thoughtfully. "I'm not much of a medic, so how long would you say that we have until the next confrontation?"

"About two weeks, probably."

"Wait, wait, stop, I'm confused." Sakura said. "Zabuza is still alive, right? So what about his accomplice?"

"The ice-user has about chuunin-level chakra, but it's likely that he is low jounin, maybe higher." The Copy-Nin said. "I'll be training the three of you so that you will be able to take down the Oinin while I focus on Zabuza. Follow me."

Kakashi got up, grabbed a crutch, and walked outside, followed by his students.

"Alright! Today, I'm going to teach you how to climb trees!" The jounin said.

The genin stared. "But sensei, we already know how to do that!" Sakura whined.

"With just your feet?" Naruto asked, walking vertically up a tree to prove his point. Flipping back onto the ground, he went into what Sasuke and Sakura would later dub 'Lecture Mode'.

"By focusing the right amount of chakra into the soles of your feet, you can stick to the tree. Doing this will improve your chakra control, which is one of the most important things for a ninja."

Sasuke frowned. "Naruto, how do you know how to do this already?"

The blonde shrugged. "I knew I wanted to be a medic-nin from a young age. I started on this really early."

The raven's eyes narrowed, but accepted the explanation.

Kakashi eye-smiled before flipping two kunai towards Sakura and Sasuke. "Use those to mark how far up you go. Good luck!"

There ya go! New chapter done.

On a side not, I have decided on the pairings. It will be mainly NaruIno and ShikaSaku with side pairings of KibaHina and SasuTen.


	5. AN

This is an author's note. No, I will not be canceling this fic. I am just trying to smooth out the curves for a lot of people.

One, Sakura and Sasuke do not really mind how strong Naruto is because at the Academy the only reason he was the dead-last is because he almost never went to class. Also, Sasuke still cared about his friends at this point in the story, it was only when he met Itachi again that he got mind-problems.

Also! About the NaruIno pairing, Ino will become _much _stronger than in cannon, along with Shikamaru. Sakura will not be training under Tsunade. As for why he is so serious, If I told you it would ruin the plot.

I will give you one hint for the farther away future of this fic:

Dantetsu no Yonnin


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Mission to the Wave III

Mokuton

It was several days later when the three genin entered Tazuna's house for dinner.

Sakura had easily completed the exercise, but had kept at it to increase her small chakra reserves. Sasuke had been much slower to perfect the exercise, but had not tired as easily. At his peer's insistence, Naruto had walked up a tree, talking the whole time in complicated terms that even Sakura had trouble understanding.

At the moment, the raven and the pinkette were shoveling food like no tomorrow, while the blonde was eating at a more reserved pace.

Naruto's mouth turned upwards into a small smile as he watched them, and felt a bead of sweat trickle down his neck. 'Why are they eating so much that they're going to throw up?' he wondered. 'Ah well, if it means Sakura is getting serious with her training, I'm not complaining.'

Inari glared at the three genin from underneath his bucket hat. 'They have no right to be so happy…' he thought. 'Do they think this is all a joke?'

~Insert tape titled "Inari's Sob Story"~

Once the child had finished ranting, Naruto found himself struggling to keep himself calm. He looked at Inari with cold eyes, very, very mad.

"Don't give me your shit. I don't want to hear it. Do you honestly believe that you're the only one with a tough life? If you do, you've got serious issues. Grow up. The world isn't your pity party." The blonde snapped, before getting up and leaving.

Everybody stared after him.

* * *

Naruto sat on the roof, watching the stars, thinking about the past.

_FLASHBACK_

_The first day he had met her was when he was 5. Naruto had been sitting by himself as usual when girl with light blue hair and purple eyes walked over to him. "Come on!" she said. "Let's play!"_

_Her name was Kirisawa Aya._

_Aya pointed to the Hokage monument. "One day, I'm going to have my face carved there! Just you watch!_

_There was a picture frame. A woman stood in the picture, her hand on Aya's left shoulder. She had brown hair, purple eyes, and a kind smile._

_That was Kirisawa Megumi._

_A man stood behind Naruto. He had ice blue hair that laid flat against his head and laughing green eyes._

_His name was Kirisawa Minoru._

_A crack appeared in the previously flawless picture. It grew, until the image shattered into a million pieces._

_A fox with nine tails laughed in the background._

_FLASHBACK KAI!_

Naruto sighed before heading back into the house to sleep.

* * *

The blonde groaned as he woke up and felt sunlight ripple over his eyelids.

'Sunlight?!' he thought 'Oh shit!'

Naruto heard a loud bang and some shouting from downstairs. He quickly grabbed all of his stuff before racing down the stairs and outside where he saw an odd scene. Odd in the violent sense of the word.

Inari was just about to be cut in two when the samurai where taken out by two kunai.

A blonde head popped up from behind the corpses. "Sorry about the mess!"

* * *

Naruto glanced between the two fights. Kakashi seemed to be doing relatively well against Zabuza.

Sasuke on the other hand…

Well to say the least, it wasn't going so well for the Uchiha heir.

His decision made, Naruto flipped through six hand seals before placing his hand on the ground. Several thick columns of wood burst out of the stone bridge, piercing straight through the mirrors shattering them.

The fake hunter-nin gasped underneath his porcelain mask as he leaped away from the mess of shattered ice. His technique had never been beaten before. He did not have enough chakra to form another set of mirrors. 'I wasn't sharp enough….I'm sorry, Zabuza-sama…' he thought.

His death was quick and painless, caused by senbon targeted to his spinal column.

* * *

Momochi Zabuza coughed blood, and spoke his last words. "Heh. To die like this…Pathetic…"

Kakashi sighed as he pulled his fist out of the nukenin's chest.

All four Konoha ninja's looked up when they heard clapping. They saw a very fat, short man standing in front of several mercenaries.

"I see Zabuza couldn't finish the job. Some devil. He's more like a little chibi devil. And then there's his little brat…I still have to pay him back for earlier…" Gatou said as he walked up to Haku's body, lifting his fist to punch the dead boy.

Naruto appeared in front of the tyrant less than a second later. "You know…" he said, voice as cold as ice, "It isn't nice to disrespect the dead." With a quick flick of his hand, the blonde snapped Gatou's hand. The blonde pulled out a kunai and slashed the midget's jugular, effectively ending his reign of terror.

The mercenaries stared for a moment at the blonde child before one of the bolder ones spoke. "You little brat! You just killed our meal ticket! Once we get rid of you, we're gonna plunder this place!"

The mercenary rallied all of the others, as they shouted a collective agreement. Before the thugs could act on their decision, an arrow lodged itself in the ground before them.

"You thugs…" Inari said. "If you take one step farther, this village will fight you with everything we have!"

Seeing the large amount of followers Inari had collected, the mercenaries trickled away.

And thus, Nami no Kuni was saved.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

(1)War Fan

Paper Test

Mokuton

Naruto strolled randomly down the streets of Konoha, ignoring the glares sent his way. He sighed inwardly, wishing himself away from the village. The blonde was paying absolutely no attention to where he was going until he turned around a corner and saw a suna teenager in a black bodysuit with a hood that had projections that looked mysteriously like cat ears as well as an overabundance of purple makeup as well as a blonde kunoichi with her hair pulled into four ponytails wearing chest armor, a battle kimono, and carried a giant tessen (1) slung across her back.

The ninja was holding up a small boy, probably just an eight-year-old who had ticked him off in some way, preparing to hit him. Naruto frowned and jogged lightly to their position. "What's going on here?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow, even though he was pretty sure he knew what had happened.

The shinobi sneered. "This little shit bumped into me. Leave me to punish him, leaf cockroach."

Both of the jinchuuriki's eyebrow's rose as he glanced at the kunoichi. "I'm not part of this." She said.

Naruto sighed and turned his attention back to the other ninja. "Look, that's the Hokage's grandson you're holding. We wouldn't want to cause a political incident, would we? Besides, I don't think your redhead teammate likes the commotion you are causing" he said, voice cool as ice. The blonde wasn't a naturally cruel person, but the jab at his village had been uncalled for.

The effect was immediate. The shinobi dropped the boy and whirled around to see his brother, just as the Konoha-nin had said. "G…Gaara..." he stuttered out.

"You have brought shame upon our family and village, Kankurou." The redhead said.

"Bu…But Gaara, they started it!"

"I don't care. Shut up or I'll kill you." Gaara said, glaring.

Kankurou gulped.

'Psychotic, much?' Naruto thought sarcastically.

Gaara narrowed his eyes at Naruto. 'I can tell…he's strong. Shukaku is reacting…by taking such a life, I can verify my existence!' the redhead thought as he began to smile wickedly. "What…is your name, Leaf-nin?"

"It is only polite to tell me your name first." The mokuton wielder pointed out dryly.

Gaara shrugged, he didn't really care either way. "Gaara. Subaku no Gaara."

The blonde nodded. "Naruto." He said before turning away.

Later, that day, Kakashi showed up with a surprise for his genin. He gave them the slips needed to get into the chuunin exams. Naruto gave a small smile of appreciation, while the other two went their separate ways.

The next day the genin of Team 7 met up in front of the academy. They nodded to each other in greeting, and then entered the building.

On the second floor, they saw a large crowd of shinobi – probably genin teams in front of a door. When Naruto noticed something off, he was about to comment to his teammates when Sasuke took the initiative and stepped forward. "Drop the crappy genjutsu." The Uchiha ordered.

Immeadiatly, murmuring began in the crowd. It was kind of sad that most of said genin had no idea that there had been a genjutsu. The 'genin' blocking the door smirked and held a conversation with Sasuke, which Naruto paid absolutely no attention to until a green spandex clad genin blocked the Uchiha's kick. Glancing suspiciously at the genin, he analyzed his movements. 'He was fast, but didn't use any chakra…that was pure taijutsu. Amazing…not to mention with those insanely heavy weights he's wearing. That kid is strong. But he has next to no chakra coming off of him. It must be some sort of genetic mix-up. I'll have to look into that.

Then, Sasuke locked his coal black eyes with pearly white ones. His eyes narrowed. "Hyuuga." He said haughtily, "What is your name?"

The Hyuuga smirked. "Neji. And by the way, next time you go shopping, you might want to buy some manners." He said before walking off.

Naruto snickered quietly.

After a little more mattering, mostly on the part of Team Gai, the crowd dispersed and the chuunin candidates spread apart.

111111111111111111111111111111111

When Team 7 entered the proper testing room, all of them were surprised by the sheer number of genin participating in the exams. After the trio was done staring, they noticed the other two rookie teams heading their way. As soon as they reached Team 7, Ino latched onto Sasuke, and Kiba and said Uchiha started growling verbally at each other. Naruto's mouth twitched in amusement; sometimes it was nice to watch the childish innocence most of the Rookie Nine contained.

Then, an older shinobi with white hair and round glasses came up. "You know, you guys should really shut up. You're attracting lots of unwanted attention."

Sasuke turned around and glared at the intruder. "And why should we listen to you, oh Great One?" he mocked, smirking.

The older shinobi shrugged. "Sorry. I was just trying to help you guys out. Speaking of which, why don't I give some information to my cute underclassmen?" he asked, speaking as if talking to himself.

"By the way my name is Yakushi Kabuto. And these are my nin-info cards." He said, pulling out a stack of cards.

"So, is there anyone in particular that you want to know about?" he asked.

Sasuke stepped forward. "Hyuuga Neji" he said.

Kabuto nodded, and looked through his cards. "Here we are. Hyuuga Neji, teammates are Maito Gai, Ryuusei TenTen, and Rock Lee. Like all Hyuugas, he uses the Jyuuken style of fighting in coordination with their kekkai genkai, the Byakugan. He is however, considered a genius among them. I'm sorry, but that is all I have."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully.

"I have more information on the villages participating…Though, you probably don't have to worry about Otogakure, and they are relatively weak…"

Across the room, eyes narrowed. With ninja speed, the Otogakure team were across the room almost immeadiatly. The girl snorted. "Calling us weak…Humph! You Leaf cock roaches are no better!" she sneered as one of her teammates stepped forward to punch Kabuto.

Naruto glared at the bandaged one as he stopped his punch, using both hands to cover the amplifier on his arm. "Watch your mouth, Oto scum. You forget you are in Konohagakure. Where there is one leaf, there will always be several more."

Before the fight could continue, there was a large poof of smoke, caused by the arrival of the proctors. "Settle down you brats!" he yelled.

Seats were assigned, rules outlined. Questions answered. (Either through smarts or cheating) The time came, for the tenth question. Ino, of all people, yelled back at Ibiki that she thought he was being stupid, raising everybody's morale. Naruto's eyebrows rose in surprise. 'Of all people…' he thought, shaking his head slightly. 'You don't see that kind of confidence often.'

The blonde started when the sound of shattering glass reached him. He paled when he saw Mitiraishi Anko, probably one of the most psycho people he had ever had the displeasure to meet. It had happened where it did most of the time, at the hospital. She was back from an assassination mission, with a few minor injuries that he had been told to fix. The rest, as they say, was history.

"Hey brats! The next exam is going to be in the Forest of Death."

Naruto suddenly got a sinking feeling in his stomach. 'Ah, shit'

999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

Yukihana: Sorry for the really slow update! My life has been hectic recently… Anyway, you probably don't want to hear my rant.

Hisako: Remember, review! Reviews=Love, and Love=Faster updates!


	8. Chapter 8

Yukihana: Here we are! The next chapter of Mokuton. I apologize a lot for those of you that wanted to see Oreo-chan and Naruto go at it, but I tried and it really didn't work out.

Hisako: Also, I need summons for Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto. Vote please!

Yukihana: I think I have now fixed all the he/she mistakes. If I missed any, drop a review and say so.

The Forest of Death

Mokuton

Twenty minutes later, Team 7 found themselves in front of the infamous Shi no Mori. It was a scary place, usually off-limits to everyone but experienced jounin for a good reason. Even in those cases, most people steered clear of it. It was Anko's playroom, and she practically lived in it.

Naruto had first met the Snake Mistress at the hospital. He had gotten a clear impression of her insane personality and brutal training methods. She had been the one to introduce him to the uses of senbon and poison, his trademark weapons. The blonde and the Mitiraishi shared a mutual respect, which luckily saved him from the fate of becoming one of her numerous boy toys.

"Alright brats, listen up. I'm about to explain the second exam." Anko called.

The Snake Mistress briefed them on the situation, adding lots of unnecessary scaring tactics, after all, this is Mitiraishi Anko we're talking about, not Hinata.

When Team 7 walked up to the booth, Naruto took the heaven scroll and slipped it up her sleeve.

99999999999999999999999999999999999

Naruto stood just inside the gate, in front of his teammates. "Let's go."

A few minutes later, an eerie scream sounded through the forest.

"That was…a human scream, right?" Sakura asked nervously. "This is getting creepy…"

"I'm going to find some scrolls. I'll find you if I get anything." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Alright. Don't take too long though."

A few minutes later, Naruto reappeared. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he threw a kunai at the blonde.

"You forgot the whisker marks." The raven stated. "Show yourself!"

The enemy shinobi did so. As the henge dispelled, it revealed the grass kunoichi.

"You want my "Earth" scroll, right? Since you have the "Heaven" scroll." The Kusa-nin stated, shoving the scroll down her throat. "So let us begin the battle of the scrolls…With our lives on the line."

Immeadiatly, the two experienced their deaths, causing Sakura to become immobile and Sasuke to throw up.

'Genjutsu?' the raven wondered. 'No…the killing intent in her eyes caused us to see our deaths….Just who is she?'

Glancing over at his trembling teammate he realized, 'We must run! Otherwise…there is only death!'

Sasuke's eyes widened as the enemy threw two kunai towards him. 'I have to move!' he thought urgently, grabbing Sakura and pushing them out of the way just in time.

Sakura panicked. "Sasuke-kun!" she shouted, "Snake!"

The Uchiha whirled around to see a speckled serpent hanging down from the tree. Both he and his teammate leaped to another branch.

It went after Sakura. The pinkette leaped into the air, sending shuriken at the snake. But the monster (as that was a more descriptive name for it,) slammed the kunoichi against a tree, where she slid down to a branch, unconscious.

Just then, the Kusa-nin rose out of the snake's scales. "You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment. Prey should always be trying their best to run away. In the presence of a predator, that is."

Sasuke gasped as the enemy's waist lengthened, allowing her to wrap around the branch like a snake. The raven threw some shuriken at the Kusa-nin, temporarily pausing her advance.

The Uchiha closed his eyes. 'Looks like I have no choice…' he thought. When his eyes, snapped open, they were two-tomoed Sharingan.

The Kusa-nin smirked. 'I'll take my time and test your ability…'

'I always thought…that I would be the one to kill Itachi. But I was always afraid…How can I expect to face him if I can't risk my life here?' Sasuke thought as he sent a fuuma shuriken attached to Nin wire flying at his opponent.

Gripping the wire between his teeth, he formed four different seals and thought 'Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu!' (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique) sending a jet of flame at the enemy. To his surprise, the technique did not burn the Kusa kunoichi's face, but instead melted it off to reveal a man with golden snake eyes.

"As I thought, Sasuke-kun…I do want you!" the man shouted.

Forming an unfamiliar seal, the Snake Sannin's neck extended, bringing it forward towards the raven before biting down on Sasuke's neck and forming a seal that contained of three tomoe. "My name is Orochimaru. If you ever want to see me again, you must survive and pass these exams." He said before melting away completely.

'Damn…' Sasuke thought before passing out from the pain.

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A half hour later, Naruto finally found his two missing teammates. 'Damnit you two…Just what happened while I was gone? And just what is that strange mark on Sasuke's neck?' he wondered as he began to set traps.

Several hours passed before anything interesting happened.

Naruto had just finished forcing Sasuke to swallow another fever-reducing pill when he heard a scuffle in the background. Whirling around, he was surprised to see that a squirrel was the source of the noise. The jinchuuriki's eyes widened when he saw the edge of a seal glued onto the animal's back. 'Explosive tag?' he thought, sending a kunai at the animal, sending it running away.

In the bushes, a team of shinobi conversed. "He's very observant," the one wrapped up in bandages said. "That's true Dosu…" the spiky haired one said. Soon, there was a chuckle from one end of the clearing. "Up all night were we?" a voice asked. "It doesn't matter. Wake Sasuke-kun up, he's the one we're here for."

Turning around, Naruto leveled an icy stare at the Sound Trio, focusing killing intent into his eyes. "Sasuke is getting some well-needed rest right now. Pick on another team."

Dosu sighed. Zaku rolled his eyes. "I'll take the brat." He volunteered. Before he could step out, Kin stopped him. "Wait." She said, overturning some grass. "There's a trap here. Go up."

Her teammates followed the suggestion and leaped into the air. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he sliced a cord on his left side, letting a giant log swing down, scattering the Oto-nin.

The blonde immeadiatly leaped into the air, immeadiatly heading for Zaku. Grabbing both of his arms in his right hand, he destroyed most of the tendons and muscles in his limb with the Shinrinken. Turning to the other two enemies, the jinchuuriki charged them and landed a punch charged on Kin's stomach, pushing the air out of her lungs and effectively rendering her unconscious.

Dosu narrowed his one visible eye. 'Zaku…Kin…This boy is obviously very strong. I will try and avenge you. But now is not the time or place.' "You are very strong, shinobi-san. I will give you our scroll. But before we leave, will you tell me your name?"

The blonde nodded curtly. "Naruto."

The shinobi nodded, dropping the "Earth" scroll on the ground.

"Well." Naruto said. "We have both scrolls. All I have to do is lug these two to the tower…."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A day later, Team 7 entered the tower after 3 days in the forest. Both Sakura and Sasuke were awake at this point, thankfully. Naruto pulled out both scrolls and then opened them. Recognizing them as summoning scrolls, he tossed them away to see what-or who-they would reveal. There was a poof of smoke before it floated away to reveal Umino Iruka.

The Academy sensei smiled. "Congratulations. All three of you have successfully passed the first test. The poem on the wall behind me is the motto of the chuunin. Be sure to heed it when you take the next test. Good luck to all of you."

When Team 7 entered the next room, they were greeted by Kakashi, who lead off Sasuke, saying something about a curse. The next two days were spent waiting for the exams to end.


	9. Chapter 9

Yukihana: Welcome to the next chapter of Mokuton! Since I'm a lazy ass, I'm only going to write down the preliminary matches that were changed. Also I apologize as much as it is possible to apologize for this extremely late chapter. I just moved and had to uncover the notebook that the future of this story is written down in. Finally, in this chapter is Sakura's Revelation!

Hisako: To Dan: Stop flaming me. I understand that you might dislike my story, but you can give constructive criticism without cussing at me.

Yukihana: Yeah! Go put those flames to some productive use, like warming up my tea!

Hisako: I got a lot of votes for the summons, so I'll do my best to get all of them down.

Naruto

Toad: 1

Jaguar: 1

Wolves: 1

Tigers: 1

Slugs: 1

Scorpion: 1

Phoenix: 2

Ino

Panther: 1

Tiger: 1

Cat: 2

Crane: 1

Same as Naruto: 1

Sakura

Dog: 2

Grizzly Bear: 1

Wolverine: 1

Flamingo: 1

Inner Self: 1

Shikamaru

Deer: 2

Sloth: 1

Dingo: 1

Bears: 1

1: Earth Clone

2: Earth Release: Hidden Among Rocks Technique

Sakura's Growth

Mokuton

Yamanaka Ino

Vs.

Haruno Sakura

The two kunoichi faced off on the arena floor. After a few seconds of this, Sakura untied her hitai-ate from its place as a headband, and retied it around her forehead.

"Right now," the Haruno said, "I have no intention of fighting over Sasuke-kun with you."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, a tint of anger in her voice.

Sakura snorted. "For all I care, you can have Sasuke-kun. Over my time spent in his company, I realized that there is nothing all that special about him besides the fact that he can be considered cute. Who would want to date an ice block anyway? Besides, I'm stronger then you right now. I don't need to be concerned with me at the moment."

The Yamanaka growled. "Who do you think you're talking to? Get back down to earth, Forehead!"

Up on the observation deck, Naruto sighed. "Sakura…Be careful. You may have learned a lot, but there is no telling how much Ino has learned." He muttered. The Copy Nin nodded in agreement before focusing back on the fight.

'Ino…' the pinkette thought. 'I always wanted to be like you. You were my goal. Thanks to that and Naruto, I'm here now. That's why, Ino, I want this to be an all-out fight. Unless I really am equal to or stronger then you, it's useless.'

The Yamanaka smirked. 'I get it….Sakura…' she thought as the blonde pulled off her own hitai-ate from its position around her waist, tying it around her forehead. 'All out battle.'

Sakura smirked darkly as she pulled her fingers into the 'Rat' seal, forming two Tsuchi Bunshin.(1) Confusing them with normal bunshin, Ino went for a punch. Snorting for the second time that day, one of the clones focused her chakra into her feet, leaping off the ground and landing a punch on Ino's face. Using this distraction, the original melted into the floor.

Asuma gasped slightly up on the deck. 'Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu…'(2) he realized.

"Take me seriously, or you're going to get hurt Ino!" the Haruno shouted. "I'm not the same girl I was then!"

The blonde kunoichi smirked. "I see…" she murmured. "As you wish, her I come!"

The two girls charged each other. 'Push chakra into the fist…' one of the clones thought as they threw a punch, 'And release it all at one moment!' she thought. Sakura's chakra control was not as good as Naruto's, and her taijutsu would never be good enough for her to fully utilize the enhanced strength technique, but that didn't mean she couldn't use a bastardized version of it.

Ino pulled out a kunai and stabbed the clone in the arm before being pushed away. The blonde kunoichi's eyes widened when the pinkette turned into a pile of mud. 'A clone…there's another one too. Is it a clone or the real one? If it's fake, where is the original?' the Yamanaka wondered as she leaped off of the ground, slicing at the other Sakura. That one turned into mud too.

"What?" Ino shouted in surprise.

The Yamanaka immeadiatly stiffened when she felt the cold steel of a kunai prick at the base of her jaw. "I'm right here Ino." The Haruno said. "My nature is earth. As you can see, the building we are in is made mostly out of stone and wood. One simple C-rank technique later, and I can melt into the stone itself, popping out at the right moment to defeat you. Of course, I'm nowhere as good with my earth ninjutsu as a certain blonde teammate of mine…"

"Winner: Haruno Sakura"

* * *

Naruto

Vs

Inuzaka Kiba

The mokuton wielder merely raised one blonde eyebrow at the match up before shunshin-ing to the floor in a swirl of leaves. Kiba walked cockily down the steps. "Looks like we got lucky, eh Akamaru?" the Inuzaka said. The ninken barked in dissent. Kiba raised an eyebrow in question, but did not get a chance to ask the dog anything, as the proctor dropped his hand and said "Hajime."

Kiba immeadiatly leaped back, calling out "Shikyaku no jutsu!" (3) Before charging Naruto. The blonde just barely managed to dodge the hit. 'Fast…' he thought, leaping back, withdrawing four senbon covered in a strong tranquilizer that he held between his fingers.

'The strength of the Inuzaka clan is their partnership with their ninken. If I take out the dog, Kiba will be that much easier to defeat.' Naruto thought, taking quick aim and throwing the needles at Akamaru.

The tranquilizer did its work quickly; the ninken was out like a light in seconds. Kiba growled and glared at the medic-nin. "You bastard…" he muttered, running towards the blonde. Naruto sighed before going through a series of hand seals, calling out, "Ninpou: Dokugiri!" as a large cloud of purple poison exuded from his mouth. The Inuzaka attempted to leave the poisonous cloud; but it was too large and the poison worked too quickly for him to do so.

Once both of his opponents were unconscious, the blonde shoved his hands into his pockets, slouching. Kurenai leaped down and glared at him. Naruto smirked humorlessly 'Another adult who hates me. Wonderful.' "I didn't kill them, Yuuhi-san." He said before turning away.

* * *

The rest of the matches were pretty boring except for Shino's match, which was gory, Hinata's match, which was fascinating in a morbid sort of way, and Lee's in which he became practically crippled. Naruto's eyes narrowed. 'Looks like I'll be spending the next few days in the hospital.' he thought.


	10. Chapter 10

Yukihana: Yay! New chappie!

Hisako: I bow to Devil of the Mist! He is now helping me come up with ninjutsu ideas for this story! The following techniques are his:

Mokuton: Morigakure no Jutsu. (Wood Release: Hidden Among the Forest Technique)

C-Rank

Allows the user to coat themselves in a nearly impenetrable armor of bark.

Range: Short

Type: Defensive

Mokuton: Ru-Tsu no Jutsu (Wood Release: Roots Technique)

C-Rank

A simple Jutsu causes roots to spring from the ground and trip an enemy.

The farther this Jutsu is used from the user, the more chakra it costs.

Range: All

Type: Offensive

Mokuton: Shibu Ya no Jutsu (Wood Release: Branch Arrow Technique)

B-Rank

Causes the branches on nearby trees to sharpen and launch themselves at the enemy.

Commonly used with the Mokuton: Jukai Kōtan. (Wood Release: Birth of Dense Woodland)

Range: Long  
Type: Offensive

I will not be using all of these in this chapter. In fact, I won't be using any. This list will be repeated in all of the chapters and will be increased as Devil of the Mist sends me more ninjutsu.

Yukihana: Also, please note that this is an _eventual _AU. For me, that means that the first part of Naruto will be pretty much cannon, while everything after that will be my own storyline. For a good example of this look at The Gambler by ZenoNoKyuubi. (It's on my profile under favorite stories XD)

Hisako: Drum roll please! This is the much-awaited chapter-we finally discover what happened to the Kirisawas! Read on, my dear fans, to find out!

Yukihana: Also, I apologize to any real doctors or nurses who might be reading this-I'm not one, so I have no idea if the medical processes and terminology I'm using in here are correct.

Naruto

Slugs: 1

Toad: 1

Jaguar: 1

Wolves: 1

Tigers: 2

Phoenix: 7

Fox: 1

Salamander: 1

Dragon: 1

Tortoise: 1

Ino

Panther: 3

Tiger: 3

Cat: 4

Crane: 1

Same as Naruto: 1

Sakura

Dog: 3

Bear: 3

Wolverine: 2

Flamingo: 1

Inner Self: 1

Slugs: 1

Shikamaru

Deer: 3

Sloth: 3

Dingo: 1

Bears: 1

OR

Each of them gets a Celestial Contract: 1

Glossary

Kuni no Shinobi-Land of Shinobi (A.K.A Shinbi Countries, Shinobi Continent, etc, etc.)

Namikuji Sannin-Slug Sannin

Gama Sannin/Sennin-Toad Sannin/Sage

Dantetsu no Sannin-Legendary Sannin (Literally means "The Three Ninja of Legend")

Tsukurite no Kiseki-Miracle Maker (Literally "Creator of Miracles")

Meetings

Mokuton

Sarutobi was chewing on the end of his wooden pipe and fighting the enemy of all Kages.

Paperwork.

'Such an evil thing should not have been invented!' The Sandaime thought, just before he heard a knock on the door.

'Finally! Something to end this torture!' Chibi Hiruzen said, crying anime-style tears.

On the outside, he simply called out, "Come in."

When the door opened, it revealed a white-haired man with red tear streaks and a horned hitai-ate with the kanji for "Oil" carved into it.

"Jiraiya-kun!" the Hokage said in surprise, "It's been a while."

"Indeed, it has." The man said. "So, anything new around her sensei?"

The Sandaime took a deep breath. He was _not _looking forward to saying this. "Jiraiya…" he murmured, "I found your son."

For a moment, the Sannin forgot to breathe. Then, all of his anger, pain, and surprise, came out in one word. "WHAAT!"

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Halfway across the village, Naruto's Bijuu-enhanced senses picked up a loud shout, "Someone's in a bad mood." He observed, chuckling quietly to himself.

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"You heard me."The Sarutobi said.

"I was told he died in the Kyuubi attack!"

"That was an assumption. We couldn't find him and the hospital was in shambles, so…" the Sandaime said, shrugging helplessly.

"Where is he? Tell me now!" the Gama Sannin demanded.

"Jiraiya-kun! Calm yourself!" the Hokage ordered. "There are some things you need to know before you see him."

The Sennin groaned, but did as his former sensei asked. "I've lasted twelve years, what's ten more minutes?" he grumbled under his breath.

Hiruzen sighed before continuing. "Unfortunately, your son, Naruto, was chosen as the container for the Kyuubi."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. He knew of the life that all jinchuuriki were condemned to. "No…No way…"he said, in denial.

Jiraiya stared blankly past the Sandaime. 'Naruto...Kami, I'm so sorry…'

The Hokage was loathe to continue, but he knew he had to. "For the first five years of his life, Naruto was used as the village's scapegoat. I actually had to assign an ANBU detail to him every year on October the 10th. A few weeks after his fifth birthday, someone approached him with friendly intentions. It was a girl named Kirisawa Aya, a year older than him. She was boisterous, loud, and talented. Her family felt no grudge against Naruto, and they took him in. They were actually about to adopt him when _that _incident happened."

"It was three days after the Kyuubi Festival. The Kirisawa family, along with Naruto, was outside the village walls, wandering in the forest. The family was small; only containing Aya and her parents, Shizuka and Koujirou. They were both tokubetsu jounin. There was no warning; it was peaceful, and then, all of a sudden, two rouge shinobi from Iwagakure no Sato showed up."

"The Kirisawa Clan ended that night. All three of them were murdered in broad daylight."

"When Aya fell, Naruto snapped. His control of the Kyuubi went out the window, and he killed all of the rouge shinobi. Something in him broke that day. Maybe it was the Kirisawa's death, maybe it was the men he killed, and maybe it was a combination of both. But he eventually managed to put it behind him and move on."

"Naruto trained mercilessly until he got his chakra control to an amazing level. He eventually managed to find somebody willing to teach him medical ninjutsu. Naruto had an aptitude for it, and two years later he was actively helping in the hospital, and a year after that he became a fully qualified medic-nin. He's a lot like his mother, but he definitely has a more…even…temperament."

"Naruto also has a pretty good grasp on fuuinjutsu. I don't know a lot about his progress in that area, but I've seen glimpses."

Jiraiya paled. 'Oh Kami…Naruto…'

"Will he forgive me? For leaving him? For condemning him to the life he's had?" Jiraiya wondered out loud, loading himself with self-blame.

"Jiraiya, it will be all right. In the mean time, you should probably find Tsunade and talk to her."

"Yeah…"

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Maito Gai was standing in hospital room number 438, next to the bed his student laid in. Three doctors were there as well.

"Well?" the spandex-wearing jounin asked, "Is there anything you can do?"

The first medic, a purple-haired woman, shook her head as she looked down. "We can't do anything by ourselves. I'm sorry."

The third medic, a black-haired male spoke up. "Don't lose hope, however. Senpai may be able to do something."

The middle one, a blue haired female, nodded in agreement. "That's true. Senpai my work another of his miracles."

The purple one smiled slightly. "Yeah. They call him Tsukurite no Kiseki for a reason…"

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Naruto himself currently stood at the reception desk of the hospital.

Naeko, the woman currently manning the desk, greeted her superior in a scarily cheerful voice. "Hi Naruto-senpai!"

The blonde groaned. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"More then I can remember! 673 at least!"

Naruto sighed, before recomposing himself. "I need Rock Lee's room number."

Naeko nodded and answered the blonde promptly with. "438."

"Thanks."

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Naruto opened the door to room 438 to be greeted by the sight of five glum expressions..

"What's with all the long faces?" he asked.

The male medic rolled his eyes and handed a clipboard to Naruto. "That's the prognosis. Can you do anything?"

The jinchuuriki glanced at the clipboard, flipping through the multiple sheets on it. Sighing, he momentarily closed his eyes before replying. "I think I have a solution. I will need a few days to prepare it and smooth out the wrinkles. I should be able to start the operation in three days. I'll be back tomorrow and the day after to check on you, Lee, so don't be surprised if I stop by."

Gai began crying his anime-style tears, pumping his fist up and down. "Your flames burn most brightly, medic nin-san! YOSH! I shall do one hundred laps around the village in celebration of your FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

The mokuton user chuckled nervously before disappearing in a puff of smoke, getting away from the creepy-ass taijutsu master as fast as possible.

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When Naruto returned to Lee's room the next day, he was surprised to find the Suna jinchuuriki in the room, about to crush the leaf genin's neck.

In one lightning fast movement, the blonde grabbed the redhead's wrist, effectively preventing him from using his sand.

"Why…" the Suna-nin murmured. "Why did you stop me?", just as he was thinking, 'Why isn't the sand protecting me?' in the back of his head.

"I'm not simply protecting him." The mokuton user said. "I'm also protecting you from yourself. IF you kill Lee, you will be no better than the monster that resides within your seal. Is that what you really want? The jinchuuriki and the bijuu are two different things, remember that. You are no more Shukaku then I am the Kyuubi. Remember, the moon is never truly alone, it has the stars for company."

Gaara's eyes widened. 'Who is this boy?' he wondered, 'To shake the foundation of my beliefs with a few sentences…Just who are you, Naruto?'

"If you need someone to talk to, just walk by the hospital. I'm probably going to be there for the rest of the month anyways." Naruto said. When the blonde was finished speaking, he released the redhead's wrist and left the hospital in a flurry of leaves.

Gaara stared at the spot he had stood in.

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The next day, after Naruto had finished checking up on Lee, he sensed a chakra formed of sand, wind, blood, and demonic energy. 'Gaara!' the blonde realized.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki found the redhead a few blocks away, and started toward him. "Hey, Gaara!" he called.

The stoic Suna-nin turned to look at the blonde. "I thought a lot about what you said yesterday. I do not know if I can do it, but I would like to try." He said.

The blonde smiled warmly. "That's all it takes. You just have to try."

"Thank you." Was all Gaara said before disappearing in a whirl of sand.

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The next day, Naruto entered hospital room 438, prepared to heal Rock Lee.

Maito Gai was there, as he wanted to make sure his favorite student would be all right. The medic nodded a hello before walking up to Lee's bed. "Alright, Lee, I need you to sit up, back toward me. Tell me immeadiatly if anything hurts."

"Okay Naruto-kun!" Lee said cheerfully.

The blonde smiled slightly and placed both of his hands on the older genin's back.

Chakra formed on the tenketsu in his finger tips. Naruto carefully pushed threads of chakra into Lee's body, and began the delicate process of navigating his patient's body.

Every time a strand of chakra ran into a chip of bone, Naruto dissipated it. Every time he met a fracture in the arm or leg, he healed it.

The process was long and tedious, but much safer than the alternative method that the Namikuji Sannin used. About four hours later, the procedure was done. Naruto was exhausted but happy that Lee would be able to continue his life as a shinobi-the surgery had gone perfectly and Lee was as good as new.

Gai was ecstatic. "Naruto-kun's flames of youth burn most brightly!" the jounin shouted as he wrapped the blond in a bear hug.

Now, one thing about Naruto was that he was not, by any means, used to being touched when he wasn't in the middle of a fight. So the blonde panicked until he managed to squirm out of the embrace.

Once the jinchuuriki managed to get away, Gai and Lee sprinted out of the hospital, vowing to run 500 laps around Konoha. Naruto felt a bead of sweat slide down the back of his head as he thought, 'Those two are completely and utterly insane…'

Turning around, the blonde saw a woman of about twenty years old. She was of a smaller build with short black hair and wore a black robe with white trim.

Naruto tilted his head in curiosity. "Who are you? What do you need?" he asked.

The woman straightened up at being addressed. "My name is Shizune. I am Tsunade-sama's personal assistant." She responded.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Tsunade-sama is back? Then I suppose Jiraiya-sama would be too. They've been an item for quite some time."

"I suppose that's true."

"So why are you here, Shizune-san?"

"Tsunade-sama told me to find the person known as the 'Miracle Maker', which I understand to be you."

The blonde closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm no miracle maker. I just work hard. Besides, there are tons of people better than me."

"You are very modest. I've heard a lot about your medical exploits."

"Whatever you say. Why does Tsunade-sama need me, anyways?"

"Just curiosity, I believe."

"Hmm, okay. Anything else?"

"Well, do you know a person named Naruto? Tsunade-sama needs to speak to him as well."

The blonde smiled. "I'm Naruto. So it looks like you can hit two birds with one stone."

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Soon enough, Naruto found himself in the same room as the two loyal Sannin. 'Who would've thought that I'd be here?' he wondered idly. 'Not to mention, Tsunade-sama is probably a virtual library of medical information. There are so many things I could learn from her…And then there's Jiraiya-sama. Pervert that he is, he is the best seal master the Kuni no Shinobi has to offer at the moment. I wonder if he knows how to make medical seals.' Then, the blonde forced himself to come back to the real world. 'Hel-lo, earth to Naruto. These are the _Dantetsu no Sanin_ we're talking about. There's no way they'd take on an apprentice.'

Tsunade sighed heavily. "Shizune, could you leave us for a few minutes?" she asked, even though it was more of an order.

The brunette nodded, glancing at Naruto, before replying "Hai, Tsunade-sama," and leaving.

Tsunade bit her lower lip, uncertain of what to say. 'This is the son I never met…what the HELL am I supposed to do?' she shouted in her mind.

Jiraiya nudged her gently. "Start from the beginning." He suggested.

The Namikuji Sannin nodded. "Ah.. Naruto, we have a story to tell you. Please be patient, and you'll understand in the end."

The jinchuuriki nodded, sitting down in a nearby chair.

Tsunade sighed again before beginning to tell her story.

"It was about twenty years ago. I was 25 at the time. It was also the middle of the Second Shinobi War-a four-way battle between Iwa, Ame, Suna, and Konoha. During all of this I met my first true love-a jounin named Yamamoto Dan. He was kind, sweet, and passionate-his dream was to become Hokage so he could protect Konoha to the best of his abilities. But then…the war took him."

"It was horrible. I was moping around for weeks, and I didn't do much except drink sake. Jiraiya finally knocked some sense into me, and we ended up spending more time together. Despite myself, I found that I was falling in love with the damn pervert."

"Eight years later, we had a child. He was born on a horrible day, the day of the Kyuubi attack. He was killed in the aftermath, or so we thought."

Naruto cocked his head to one side in confusion. "I understand your pain, but what exactly does this have to do with me?" he asked.

Tsunade looked down in sadness. "Naruto…that child was…you."

The Tsukurite no Kiseki felt all the blood rush out of his face. 'No…' he thought. 'It's not possible. There's no way. If it's true…why did they leave me alone? Why was I always ALONE?'

"No!" the jinchuuriki shouted. "It's not true!"

That was the snapping point for Tsunade. She broke down, crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She sobbed. "Kami, I'm so sorry, Naruto."

"Naruto, please…" Jiraiya said. "I know we have no excuse for not being there for you…but can't we at least try and make it up to you?"

The medic shook his head. "No, no no! Why weren't you there? Why was I always alone?" he shouted, lunging across the room, hitting the Gama Sennin in the stomach.

Jiraiya choked slightly, before chuckling and wrapping the boy in a hug. "I guess I deserved that, huh?"

Naruto stiffened, before trying to escape the Sannin's grasp. But the older man only held on tighter. "I would never had left if I'd known you were alive…In the name of all things holy, I'm sorry." Jiraiya whispered.

The Sannin looked down in surprise when he felt his shirt become wet. He was shocked to find that the mokuton wielder was crying. "I have a family…" the jinchuuriki murmured. "What am I supposed to do?"

By this time, Tsunade had joined the family hug. "Watch and learn." She replied. "Watch and learn."


	11. Sorry

Dear Readers,

I am officially discontinuing this story. I apologize. I have lost my inspiration for it, and am currently out of ideas and motivation.

However, that said, I would like to thank all of my readers and reviewers. I never thought this story would get the 100+ reviews it has gotten. When I first started, I was hoping for a measly 50 if I ever got past the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, which I obviously haven't. Thank you for supporting this story so far. Again, I'm sorry. But I am considering putting this story up for rewrite, so if I start posting again, you know what to expect.

Sincerely,

Yukihana Hisako


End file.
